The Rise

Chapter One

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Three.

We surrounded the pack house. Some Protectors were plastered against the building, others were waiting patiently in the forest to attack – yellow eyes glowing in the darkness.

Two.

I pressed my ear to the front door, listening for whispers, cries, screams. Twenty people – twenty Challengers were inside. My eyes fluttered close as I summoned my wolves. It was now or never.

One.

Valerio kicked open the door. We infiltrated the building. My white wolf spirit ran up the stairs, his hind legs destroying the wood. He ran down a hallway and out of my sight, and I let him.

My black wolf followed me toward the voices. A Challenger roared from behind one of the doors downstairs. It flew open. Bubbles foamed in his mouth, his eyes black. He lunged in my direction. But my wolf jumped in front of me and sunk his canines into his throat.

The Challenger screeched, immediately falling to the ground. My wolf ran back to me, his tail wagging. We both watched the Challenger's flesh slowly dissipate into dust by my wolf's bite mark. He squirmed. He shrieked. Then he died.

One by one Challengers sprinted out of rooms, down hallways, baring their teeth. My black wolf charged after them, biting into their throats. Just once. That's all it took. One touch from Black and they would double over in pain, clutching their throats, trying to stop the darkness from eating away their flesh.

I recognized the pain on their faces; it was the same pain I felt when Damon was in my arms, his heart slowly rotting in his chest. It was dread. It was agony. It was hopelessness.

And I didn't feel one ounce of sympathy for them. They deserved this.

When Black killed the last one, his ears perked up and he turned toward the steps. I followed him up the stairs, keeping up with his quick pace. He ran into one of the rooms, howling. White was in the room, licking a pup's wound until it was healed. Other pups stood around her, petting her soft coat.

Valerio took a few pups by the hand. They waved to my wolves as they left the room. For the first time tonight, I smiled at the two. Black was nuzzling White's neck, awarding her for a job well done.

They reminded me of me and Luca, best friends, and of me and Damon, fated lovers. But what didn't remind me of those two nowadays. Both of those men, who I used to know, are dead. Luca, figuratively. Damon, literally.

After Black and White loved each other up, I held out my hands for them. Each rubbed against a different palm, and they dissolved into my body. I walked down to Valerio and the other Protectors who were each caring for a pup.

"Where to next?" I asked, hands on hips.

Valerio grimaced. "I think we should take the rest of the day off. We all need a bit of rest."

My heart sunk. I wanted to tear down more Challenger hideouts. Since Aeron leftit has been much easier to find them. We hadn't been sidetracked by possible hideouts in the city and I hadn't been distracted by a god who kept trying to get me in bed.

But although it was easier, everyone was working longer than they should have. Groups of Protectors were still looking for Luca with no success. We had tens of Protectors surrounding the pack house at all times. Everyone was doing as much as they could. And they were getting a bit grumping doing it.

I nodded to Valerio. "Let's take a day to ourselves. We can't work efficiently if everybody is tired and cranky."

We safely delivered the pups back to their families and rode back to the pack house. Valerio was quiet for most of the ride, but he kept tapping his thumb against the steering wheel and gazing over at me. "What's wrong?" I said.